Tâi-oân Chè-chō

Entries categorized as ‘Society’

Pick one’s nose

November 17, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Khàng phīⁿ-sái

Example:

Tī lâng ê bîn-chêng khàng phīⁿ-sái sī chin pháiⁿ-khòaⁿ koh bô lé-māu.

It’s both disgusting and impolite to pick your nose in front of other people.

Categories: Health · Society

Brain drain

October 21, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Jîn-châi gōa-liû

Categories: Business · Economics · Education · Society · Work

Sacrificial lamb, scapegoat

October 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Thè-sí-kúi / thòe-sí-kúi

Literally: “ghost who dies in place of (someone or something).”

Related entry here.

Categories: Figures of speech · Religion and Morality · Society

Moribund

October 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Khiong-hòa / kiong-hòa

The Maryknoll Dictionary has teh beh siau-bia̍t8, as in teh beh siau-bia̍t8 ê bûn-bêng (moribund civilization).

Related entry here.

Categories: History · Society

Mixed-race (person)

July 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

From least offensive to most offensive:

Hūn-hiat ê [“mixed-blood”]
Lām-hoeh [“mixed-up blood”]
pòaⁿ-hóng-á [?]

Of course, there’s always “mutt”:
cha̍p8-chéng-káu
Literally: “dog of ten kinds”

Update: Added the missing eight tone marker to chap8-cheng2-kau2. As you may have noticed, I’ve been having trouble getting the eighth tone to show up in WordPress lately.

Also, I just realized the chap8 of chap8-cheng2-kau2 could also be–and probably is–the chap8 meaning “mixed, confused,” as in hok8-chap8.

Categories: Family · Insults · Relationships · Society

Scapegoat

June 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Or: the one to blame, the one who gets picked on

 

Chhàu thâu-ke-á

Literally: scabby-headed chicken

 

I tī ha̍k8-hāu lóng chò chi̍t8 ê chhàu thâu-ke-á.

He’s always picked on at school.

Categories: Chh · Figures of speech · Society

Interrelated

June 18, 2009 · Leave a Comment

·-siōng ū koan-hē

Categories: Economics · Environment · H · Politics · Religion and Morality · Society

Common name, normal name

June 14, 2009 · Leave a Comment

chhài-chhī-á miâ

Literally: a vegetable-market name

Categories: Chh · Family · Society

Case

March 1, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Khè-suh

————————-

Gún seng chí-chhut ū saⁿ chióng gí-giân liû-sit ê lūi-hêng, sui-bóng ū chi̍t kóa saⁿ chióng lóng thàu-lām ê khè-suh.

We’ll first point out that there are three kinds of language loss, although there are some cases where the three kinds are all mixed together.

————————-

The usual Taiwanese word for a judicial or other case is, as in Mandarin,  àn or àn-kiāⁿ, but you’ll often see the English-derived khè-suh.

Categories: Law · Society

Fight over the pie

February 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Sio-chiⁿ pun tōa-piáⁿ

Literally means “fight among one another over dividing the big cake.” In other words, fight over how to divide the benefit or the spoils.

Categories: Economics · Society